The Curse of Time
by tea-pyon
Summary: Maybe it was better for her this way, her simple, manipulative life all in the past. Chap 335 angst-y Ultear focused. T for swearing and graphic-ish stuff. First story so please don't be too hard!


Grand Magic Games. Day 6. Year X791.

The Day of Fairy Tail's victory.

The Day of the dragon's invasion.

The Day I-no, we- should've died.

The Day when time, for the first time, was on our side.

The Day we lost a friend, a comrade, a sister.

The Day Ultear lost her life's worth.

They all knew they would die. But in that moment, death was the first thing they embraced. They had prepared to die a bad death, to never be remembered, but to know their nakama were safe.

Yet the death they had braced for, the one they had so long awaited-it never came.

Droy smiled bitterly at the crying face of his best friend. This was how he pictured dying-with his best friend, fighting alongside each other to save Fairy Tail. Maybe they would meet again another time, another face. Maybe they wouldn't even be friends. No. That wasn't possible. From the first time they met, there was an instant bonding, even through their multiple flaws. He was filled with remorse and shame for all those insults, and cursed at not being able to turn back time and tell Jet how much he really meant to him. Just for a minute, he wished he could argue with him over Levy just one last time.

Droy's body barely registered the pain, but the last thing he did was smile a farewell for his best friend.

_It was all her fault._

Jet frantically scrambled to keep his teammate alive, even though he knew it was futile. He was losing a rigged death match with Death itself, and Droy's life was on the line. He didn't know what to do without him. He had never meant any of those stupid, stupid insults. He himself was useless, after all. All he did was run. Run, run, run away from anything bad in his life. From a battle, he would rather save himself. Even now Droy had shielded him from anything without a second thought. He was pathetic. He only cared about his own sorry ass. It was selfish to think that now, he might've had a chance with Levy. He stumbled forward, as if in a trance, to keep Droy's head from falling. He wasn't breathing. Droy wasn't breathing. Droy was dead. Those thoughts flickered through his mind as he registered his best friend's death. It just couldn't be possible, but it was.

Team Shadowgear would never be the same.

_She was pure evil, malicious from the start, using, manipulating, wasting other people's lives._

Quatro Cerberus wasn't always the strongest. They weren't always the best looking, either. But they were persistent, and Bacchus was damn sure that he wouldn't stop fighting until his very last breath. But the blow had come so fast he barely had time to register the fact that no, he couldn't breathe, and no, he was not able to defend against these dragonlings for very much longer. He was Quatro Cerberus's strongest mage, the one everyone looked up to. He was the guy who outdrank the reckless, beautiful, and powerful Cana Alberona. He was one of the few guys able to stand up to the fearsome Fairy Queen Titania, Erza Scarlet, also his friend. He was supposed to be WILD!, not this pathetic idiot unable to rejoice in the least of victory against small underlings. Whatever had happened to the leader of the Wild Four?

Bacchus smiled dejectedly at his now empty gourd of once lively beer.

_She was cursed to live a life of neverending sin._

With the last ounce of strength, he pushed his son into the safety of Wakaba's arms, relieved he could at least save the remainder of his family. It was time to say goodbye, to his title of Fourth Master of Fairy Tail, to his comrades, to his family, to his beloved son. He could see Romeo calling out to him frantically, held back by Wakaba, who couldn't bear to look. He felt tears welling up in his eyes, blotting his vision. Romeo distorted and twisted, morphing into Wakaba, Natsu, Mirajane, Laxus, Lisanna, Elfman, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Reedus, Gildarts, Gajeel, Cana, the Master-all his family from his home. He saw the dragons' bloodshot eyes penetrate his skin hungrily as they dragged him away. Macao succumbed to their will as Romeo and Wakaba shrunk to two small figures in the distance, so, so far away. His last breath escaped him in a rush to say the words he had held back all these years.

_I love you, and always will, son._

_She was supposed to repent; to fix all her sins, but what good was she if she couldn't even do _that_?_

Romeo screamed for his father. He couldn't be dead, he wasn't going to die. He strained against Wakaba to save his father, but his strength was drained, his voice sore, and his magic useless. This wasn't real. This wasn't true, his father wasn't dead, and any moment now he would blast the dragons away with his magic, surprising Romeo, apologize for scaring him so badly, and they would laugh together again and Romeo would hug him and they would fight back together. But the already fading presence of his father continued to fade, diminishing smaller, and smaller, and smaller. _His father wasn't coming back. He was gone, and there was nothing to do about it._ The screams had subdued, and all but a silent sniffle remained. Around him, the chaos of the battle seemed distant and far away. _Natsu-nii had never been his hero, his father was._

Romeo Conbolt is now an orphan.

_Right after she decided she would never harm a single soul again, her family just went and died-and she just wanted to scream at whoever was in charge of the goddamn universe._

Everything was wrong. 6 Dragon Slayers, 7 Dragons. Whoever had started this whole war was pretty damn messed up, and he swore to pay him back someday. He's pretty pissed off now, cuz hell, he couldn't even defeat one dragon, when Salamander was out there _riding_ one. His stupid, stupid, _stupid_ mistakes led to this. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But somewhere deep inside, underneath his animalistic ego and manly pride, a twinge a regret snaked its way into his thoughts. He wanted to tell Natsu and Gray and Elfman and everyone in Fairy Tail that they were more than just comrades to him-they were his first trusted friends. He wanted to tell Juvia that she was the best person that he'd ever met, and she was his best friend, and sure, she's a little creepy and a little off, but she was caring and kind and courageous and drop-dead beautiful in her own dark way. And he wanted to tell Bunny Girl to keep Salamander in check, and that she'd hurry up and get together with him, since he had a thousand jewels on them. And then there was Shrimp-loving, awkward, Shrimp. He want-no, needed to tell her that she maybe, she wasn't so weak and small after all, and maybe, she has had to be the sweetest, funniest, and cutest person he'd ever met-and that maybe, just maybe, he loved her.

He cursed silently at Natsu to beat the fuck out of Future Rogue for not letting him die in peace.

_I'm just a cold-hearted witch, created for the sole purpose of killing._

It was all too quick-the quick hesitation, the shove, the screams, the flash-the warmth of blood spraying his hands and mouth. He gaped wordlessly, hands fumbling to feel for the wound. Once, twice, three more times he felt a blinding pain shoot through his abdomen, each cavernous hole oozing out a bit of his life. It took a moment to regain his cool composure, where he focused his dying energy into forming a smirk. He could see Lyon's trembling hands in front of him, his horror-filled eyes widening as he felt his back hit the rubble encased ground. He mused with certainty that Juvia would be consumed with the thought of what he was going to say. What was it, anyways? He wasn't so sure himself. Ah, where was the flame-brain when he needed him most? There were all those unresolved fights, all those pointless arguments, those stupid bets. His pride never let himself admit that Natsu had already far surpassed him, and maybe Natsu knew too. It was all past now. Strands of blue hair draped over his face, and hot tears dripped onto his pale cheeks, harsh and angry like the thundering rain. They say that sound was the last sense to go out as you ided, but even as everything faded to black, he could hear her desperate voice pleading for someone, _anyone_, to save him.

Gray could already see Ur scolding him for being so reckless.

_Gray Fullbuster. He had given her a reason to live, a reason to fight._

Juvia crawled slowly to his mangled corpse, puzzled. Why had he saved her, not himself? Juvia was only, well, _Juvia._ He was about to say something...what? Her blue hair, so perfectly resembling the mood right now, soaked up the bits of blood on his face. Angry tears poured down her face, her mind a constantly repeating track of the name of the one she had loved so dearly. Tears obscured her vision, burning her eyes. Dark clouds rolled in, and in the distance, a thunderstorm had begun. The rain gently leaked out of the sky, a soft pitter-patter, soon becoming the roar of Juvia's agony. She was the rain woman, gloomy, dark, repressed, but he had shown her that the sun could still shine even in the darkest of places. She squeaked incoherently, a strangled scream forcing its way from her dry throat. She cried out his name, lacking an all familiar _-sama!_ at the end.

In the pits of her stomach, a clenching fury erupted from inside, and she swore, _they would pay_.

_Magic surges through her body, and she gives a final prayer to Gray, Meredy, Jellal, for everyone who let her see the light._

For the first time in her life, Ultear Milkovich finally feels as though she's done some good.

~End~


End file.
